Very interested. Is this please "tweaked" to interface with the existing TRUMPETER and Italeri container kits in 35th scale? I understand you are working in 1/35 scale, but I wonder do you have any of the available injection molded container box kits in hand for actual "fit checks" as your programing progresses?

Currently, it's not designed to fit the Trumpeter or Italeri containers. I don't have them in hand to measure against. The design can be changed to fit them, though.

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Mike the CHU is coming along wonderfully!

I realize this is almost inconsequential but . . . . . the hook structures on your CAD drawings need to be rotated 180 degrees. The top hooks need face the "back" side (the flat side) of the CHU.

The only time the CHU would be set up as shown in your drawings (rarely) is when the operators must use the lower hooks to engage the top corner blocks of a container to lift it when it has been buried or has sunken into soft ground. (A real pain in the arse!)

Also IMHO while your top hooks are perfectly shaped to match the real thing - in the scale model world the hooks won't extend down into the top corner blocks as far as they do in reality. They will also not get an actual "bite" on the corner block. A hook of this design will just drop (as in slide right out) of the top corner hole. The inside hook face on the model will need to be much more vertical in order to stay locked into the scale container.

I know these top hooks as I built them look funky but they work!

The hooks on the top and bottom of the sliding arms are separate parts. They are only in place right now pretty much as placeholders. When finished, they'll be placed on wafers or sprues.

I could include 2 sets of top hooks, one for accuracy and one shaped like yours for functionality.

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Mike this is just an F.Y.I. - as I imagine you already have these images and information:(Just trying to help.)

I chose NOT to make these items functional on my CHU. I figured if I needed them later I could easily enough build functional copies at that time.

*Mike, note shape of these locking hooks.

Already in the design. Worked on it for some time after I posted the last update. The lifting hook and locking hook and that entire assembly are already finished. And they also aren't functional. There's not too much left to work on now. All that's left, from what I remember correctly, is the top of the frame with a couple brackets and handles, underneath the left upper frame arm (I'm not sure what that part is called), the bumpers on the front and probably 1 or 2 other things. Mostly small details.

Yes, as you say, you still need the two odd specialized hooks (have not as yet found what they are for) that are strapped to the top of the CHU and the two safety hand grabs up there also.

Then you need the two part, what I call, the Jake Leg* that supports the CHU when stored on the ground. (Do not know why anyone would want to store the CHU standing up. Seems a good wind could blow it over. Besides, if you are using the CHU then you also have a beautiful, powerful hydraulic arm at your disposal on the LHS that will pick it up for you!)

The two pieces of the Jake Leg store one in each "arm pit" of the CHU.

You mentioned the "bumpers" still need to be added. Not sure exactly what those are made of or exactly they do but I read them as heavy, black rubber bumpers as well. Maybe someone out there can confirm????

* When you rebuild an old wooden porch you temporarily support the roof of the porch with slanted wooden poles which are referred to as Jake Legs. They hold up the porch roof while you tear out and rebuild the decking and the rotted porch posts underneath.

I was fortunate to have recently acquired a Trumpeter 20' container which I just finished tonight. I can now confirm that both the Italeri 20' container and the Trumpeter 20' have roughly the same overall measurements. Therefore both my Italeri LHS trucks and my home built CHU appear to work just fine with either manufacture's container.

The Italeri product is on the left, the Trumpeter on the right. The following may be of interest to some: Given the significant differences in the corrugations of the various wall panels and the layout of the parts on the sprues, I can confirm that the two offerings are produced from totally different tooling.

Comments would be: The Italeri tooling offers somewhat larger gluing areas and the container goes together more solidly and a bit more easily. On the other hand the Trumpeter offering includes the four ventilators cast into the sidewalls. The Italeri container is missing these vents.

Finally, to Italeri's credit, their container comes with three different complete decal markings - US Army, US Marines and Italian Army. The Trumpeter offering comes ONLY with "China Shipping" decals.

Mike, tonight I took a scale rule to the container corner blocks on both the 1/35th scale containers. Horizontally, centerline of attachment hole to centerline on the corner blocks both containers sit at 7.5 feet wide. Vertically the Trumpeter measurement is at 8 feet centerline to centerline. However the Italeri container scales vertically to 8 foot 2 inches. Clearly this difference in height should not affect your work on the CHU.

Unfortunately having the CHU is only half the pie. To use the CHU to load a container, a HEMTT (or any other truck) has to be equipped with the proper rear container guides. A container will NOT roll up onto the back of a LHS using just the old style roller guides. For the new container system to function at all the vehicle MUST possess these newer fold out guides.

Mike please pardon the crass language but I sent the following e-mail to Shapeways just today as I have almost NEVER been able to find what I am looking for other than to get the exact URL link from you!

May I say - your search engine is not worth a [auto-censored]! It is even less than a [auto-censored]!

Give me an option where I can tell the search engine to give me ONLY results that EXACTLY match what I ask for.

As it is, I put in "MS Productions" and get 3000 matches. I put in "Mike's MS Productions" and get 6000 matches. I put in "CHU" 28K matches, "Container Handling Unit" I get EVERYTHING that has anything to do with the word container.

The ONLY way I have ever been able to purchase what I want is to contact the designer and to get the EXACT link to the page I am looking for from them!

You have great products I can just never find any of them! Search is worthless! Oh, did I say it is not worth a [auto-censored]? I guess I did.

Also cannot find it by browsing "vehicle, military, scale 1/35th.Who ever built you search engine sucks to put it bluntly - sorry.

Sadly Mike, you're at the back of a verrrrrrrrrrrrry long line of folks complaining about the search function at Shapeways! I've been designing stuff there for the last five years, and it's such a recurring theme that I view it as a sort of background music when on the site. The day they fix it there'll be a ton of happy campers...

Do you know what sets i need from your cooms gear that i need for a maxxpro? Or will you release more sets?

Well I know you would need a AN/VIC-3 set. I'm not sure if it would be a LV2 or the full VIC-3, though. So far that's all I have out currently that would go into a MaxxPro. Once the VRC-110 is out, that too would go in a MaxxPro.

One question Michael, do you do 3d work so you can order the part on shapways that i pay you for the work to make the 3d print kit ? I have a lot of photos of the parts and i have the kit to take the mesuremeants? It's a weapon station for a machine gun on the turret for a Swedisch CV9040 C kit ,it's only the weapon station, the machine gun i will order from live resin... this part is missing in the hobbyboss kit, and if you want to build a correct viechle this must be on the turret..Can i send you a photo and you can tell me how much you would like to have to create the 3D print for shapeways?